The genus Ctenophthalmus Kolenati, 1856 (Siphonaptera: Ctenophthalmidae) in Ethiopia: taxa inventory and description of two new species

Summary

Two new flea species are described and illustrated, namely Ctenophthalmus (Ethioctenophthalmus) leirsi Beaucournu & Zewdneh n. sp. and C. (E.) vanhoutteae Beaucournu & Bereket n. sp. The first species is represented by both males and females, while the other is only represented by a single female that does not match any of the previous descriptions of species belonging to the Ethiopian flea fauna. In order to confirm the later species status, a revision of the genus Ctenophthalmus in Ethiopia is discussed herein along with the Ctenophthalmus taxa and localities recorded so far in this country.

Résumé

Le genre Ctenophthalmus Kolenati, 1856 (Siphonaptera : Ctenophthalmidae) en Éthiopie : inventaire des taxa et description de deux nouvelles espèces. Deux nouvelles espèces de Puces sont décrites et accompagnées d’illustrations : Ctenophthalmus (Ethioctenophthalmus) leirsi Beaucournu & Zewdneh n. sp. et C. (E.) vanhoutteae Beaucournu & Bereket n. sp. La première espèce est représentée par des mâles et des femelles, tandis que la seconde est représentée par une unique femelle ne correspondant à aucune description d’espèce de Siphonaptère éthiopien. Afin de confirmer le statut d’espèce de cette dernière, nous la replaçons dans le cadre plus large d’une révision et de discussion du statut des espèces du genre Ctenophthalmus décrites d’Éthiopie.

http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:22B77E9A-D081-43E9-BDAB-F5311958EEDB

Keywords:

• Afrotropical region
• fleas
• taxonomy
• biodiversity

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Miss T. Howard (Head of Collections, Department of Entomology, The Natural History Museum, London) for the loan, among others, of the holotype of Ctenophthalmus gilliesi, and the research, unfortunately unsuccessful, of the new species reported by Ashford et al. (1973) in Ethiopia. We also thank Dr C. Daugeron (MNHN), for his unsuccessful efforts to find the “Ctenophthalmus agyrtes” studied by E. Séguy. We appreciate the guidance from Dr Meheretu Yonas regarding isolation and handling of fleas in the laboratory in Ethiopia. We are thankful to Mr Gebeyehu Feleke, Mr Yigrem Kebede and Mr Dawit Leja for their unreserved assistance during the field campaigns and packaging the samples for shipment. We are grateful to Wolaita Sodo University, Ethiopia and the Evolutionary Ecology Group Laboratory of the University of Antwerp, Belgium, for academic and logistic support. Wolaita and Dawro district agricultural offices are acknowledged for facilitating the fieldwork.

Additional information

Funding

This study has received financial support from the Vlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad (VLIR) in the framework of the south initiative 2014 project.